I have been doing some searches online about all of the convenience foods we purchase but we could be making them ourselves. I think it would be rewarding when you have all of the ingredients already and you actually save money instantly! I have a couple recipes I want to make but I was wondering if anyone else wants to join in?! I think it will be fun, frugal and also better for us than all of those added preservatives.

I know many of you already do this and Erin has a lovely list of mixes to try.

Here is a short list of what I want to try and make by scratch.

Puff Pastry (this one is going to be tough as I see it needs a great deal of patience)
Taco Seasoning Mix
Gravy Mixes
A decent split pea soup (mine always seems a bit tough)

Probably more as I go along. I also thought that as we perfected any mix or recipe (soup for me) we could post them in the recipe forum.

We make our own taco seasoning mix and make a vegan/gluten free 'gravy' from scratch.

Also gluten free cornbread from scratch, I went to a chili & cornbread lunch today and all the cornbreads, including the gluten-free, were from mixes. It's seriously the easiest GF thing in the world and can easily be vegan to boot (we use flax seed meal and water to replace egg, the texture is awesome and the flax seed meal is a big fiber boost).

I'm trying to think of the other mixes we use and as it turns out since our diet is so different, we make nearly everything ourselves.

Oh! EXCEPT - I found a gluten free pumpkin pie spice that's way more economic than having the individual spices and putting them together, on sale last year, and bought 5, to tie us over (pumpkin pancakes use it). And garam masala, that we get from India, and when we ran out of what DH had bought when he was over there, his friend there sent more via a co-worker courier - as a gift! That guy is so nice! We asked if there was anything we could send him from here, but alas, no. Whenever he's here he eats at our favorite Indian restaurant or gets PIZZA, just cheese pizza. Apparently he got sick once years ago while visiting here and only trusts those 2 things now.